The storytelling boom generated an explosion of storytelling — in the media, on social media, about ourselves, about others — followed quickly by concerns about the impact of flooding our lives with stories. What happens when everything we say — we say in story-form?

What happens when everyone has to tell a story?

One thing that happens is communications professionals have to produce stories for the organizations they work for, establishing organizational storytelling — and in particular impact storytelling — as essential work for communicators.

The focus on impact storytelling — telling personal stories about real people to describe the impact of an organization’s work — and the flood of impact stories that followed, raised more specific concerns:

• What happens when someone’s story of need — and sometimes trauma — is told publicly?

• What happens when a nonprofits receives more donations if it tells more affecting stories?

• What happens when audiences are bombarded with impact stories from nonprofits in fundraising drives?

These questions have generated conversations and research about “ethical storytelling” that raise questions about different parts of storytelling practice in the storytelling boom:

• The type of harm or area of concern e.g. exploitation or privacy violation

• Who is at risk of harm e.g. the person the story is about, or the audience etc.

• The area of storytelling that could cause harm e.g. the story itself, the telling of the story or its production.